Manufacturing automation or robotics have experienced exponential growth in the last decade, especially in integrated circuit production. Bare gold or plated single wires can be clamped and/or manipulated by automated machines, which in turn, bond the wires together, to a circuit board or the like.
While these machines may increase production, they are not always production feasible. First, they are extremely expensive to buy, install and maintain, and are not generally financially practical for smaller scale manufacturing. These machines, further, cannot be employed in all situations. For example, multiple fine insulated wires, which require removal or penetration of the insulation, cannot always be clamped by these automated machines. Since these fine wires are generally on the order of 1-2 mils in diameter, misplacement of the fine wire by as little as 1/2 mil, relative a circuit contact, can render the bond ineffective.
Accordingly, manually operated bonding machines, as shown in FIG. 1, have been developed which provide molecular welds to both bare and insulated fine wires. For instance, bifilar or trifilar leads can be bonded to thin-film heads for computer hard disk drives or the like. These bonding apparatus 10 typically include a bonding element 11 such as an ultrasonic tool disposed on an end of an arm 12 to be controlled. Through manual manipulation of a manipulating lever 13 which is operably coupled to arm 12, proportional precision movement of the bonding element can be controlled.
Typically, as shown in FIG. 1, a conventional spherical knob 14 is mounted to the distal end of lever 13 for control and manual manipulation thereof. Knob 14 is formed to be grasped in the operator's palm or between multiple fingers for movement of the manipulating lever 13.
One problem associated with these spherical knobs is that they become difficult to grasp when continuously maneuvered over long periods of time. Eventually the continuous gripping causes the operator's wrist to fatigue resulting in unsteady operation of manipulating lever 13. Such unsteady operation is further magnified by the fact that the bonding operations are usually observed under a microscope 15 since the wires are of such a small diameter.
Another problem associated with these spherical knobs is that they are often difficult to physically relocate after the operator has moved his hands from the knob. Because the spherical knob is relatively small, the operator generally must visually relocate the knob for manual operation. Cumulatively, a substantial amount of time is wasted.